Marriage

As we enter the final weeks of preparation before our daughter's wedding, the issue of same-sex marriage is being debated in the Supreme Court.  I oppose same-sex marriage.

I believe in the Bible.  To accept same-sex marriage, I would have to reject all that my faith tells me is right.  I believe that every word of the Bible describes exactly God's plan for all mankind, and that plan is the same today as it was yesterday and will be tomorrow.  Scripture says that God is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.  To me, that is quite an assurance that God does not change.  The God that created human life and the first marriage in Genesis is the same God that lives in my marriage and who will create a covenant in my daughter's marriage.  To accept same-sex marriage, I would have to accept that God has "evolved" in his views and there is nothing I have read in Scripture to suggest that God changes His mind.   My faith in the Bible as God's divine word will not let me accept that He meant for anything but one man and one woman to share the life-long, intimate covenant of marriage.  The Bible also is pretty clear in how the gift of human sexuality is to be used.  God is not in favor of premarital sex, extramarital sex or homosexual sex.  I am pretty sure that the people of Sodom and Gomorrah would bear witness to that.  I am not prepared, not now and not ever, to let go of my faith and accept the secular, humanist view that marriage can "evolve" and can mean whatever society wants it to mean.  A marriage is, was and always should be the lifelong union of one man and one woman.


I also believe that I am not to judge others.  Just because homosexuality is not a sin that I commit certainly does not mean in any way that I am without sin.  It would go just as much against my faith to persecute people who choose the homosexual lifestyle.  They should be just as free to work and function in society as I am.  But, with every choice one makes to live one way, one gives up certain other things.  When I chose to marry my husband, I gave up the right to be intimate with anyone else.  If I chose now to be intimate with anyone else, I would have to give up my marriage.  Life is full of trade-offs.  The further we lower our standards as a society, the further we get from God. God will judge each one of us on our individual choices.  There is nothing wrong with maintaining the high standard that the benefits of marriage accrue to one man and one woman.  If you freely choose a different standard, you freely give up the benefits that would have come with a different choice.

Success, both personal and societal, only comes when the best and highest standards are sought.  As a nation, we keep accepting the lowering of standards and we are seeing an alarming decline in all ways.  With the acceptance of divorce and unwed motherhood, there are more children today living in generational poverty.  The burden on society of then providing for these children what should have been provided in a traditional, Biblical family is, with other things, putting our nation on a path of financial ruin.  The acceptance of same-sex marriage would be the fatal shot to the family.  First, marriage isn't necessary, then fathers aren't necessary, now, not even a man and a woman is necessary.  Marriage, in any form in secular society, becomes nothing.  So, instead of elevating marriage for the few, we will have devalued it for everyone.  As goes the family, so goes the nation.

We have always had the high standard of religious freedom in this country.  If the government now sanctions same-sex marriage, how is that going to play in our churches?  If my pastor becomes legally required to perform same-sex marriages, he has already said that he will not comply with the law.  If churches are forced to close because they will not go against their doctrines, then the right of all of us to freely exercise our religion has been taken away.  The right to openly gather and worship in the church of our choosing was one of the founding cornerstones of our nation.  Whether you attend church or not, I can say with complete confidence that the absence of Bible-teaching churches in our country will destroy all that remains of our civil society and will be felt in the very soul of every man, woman and child.  You cannot rip away part of a foundation and expect that which is built upon it to last.

When the cracks and crumbles that we see now turn into full collapse, I will put my faith in God's promise that He knows His people and He will be with us.